A man has thanked the “lovely people” of March who stopped to help him when his wife with dementia, aged 68, fell over in the town centre.

Richard Butt has told this newspaper how grateful he is for assistance two nurses and several members of the public gave on Wednesday, January 9.

The 75-year-old said that his wife, Maggie Butt, fell forward on a drain just outside the Nationwide Bank on Broad Street in March.

He said: “I couldn’t hold her; she just went straight out of my hand and was left lying on the ground for an hour before the ambulance came.”

Mr Butt said that two off-duty nurses, who happened to be passing by, stopped their cars and rushed to help Maggie before paramedics arrived.

Maggie was taken to Peterborough City Hospital and was left in A&E for nine hours before being told she had fractured her wrist – the couple left at 10pm the same day.

Mr Butt added: “Our grateful thanks go to all the lovely people that stopped to help on Wednesday. Thank you also to people who brought Maggie some blankets.”

The 68-year-old will return to the city hospital tomorrow (January 15) where she will have a cast fitted to start the healing process.